Glick Neighborhood Center closure raises questions over funding shortfalls

INDIANAPOLIS - The Fay Biccard Glick Neighborhood Center at Crooked Creek at 71^st and Michigan Road has always been the place where neighbors could be heard, parents could drop off kids, residents could receive rental assistance and the unemployed could launch a job search.




Today, the Center is mostly shut down due to an internal financial investigation and lacks a permanent chief executive officer.




"The board made a leadership change in June, and is launching an intensive audit," read a statement released by Glick's public relations consultant. "The Center is experiencing financial challenges primarily from overstaffing and overextending financially to help more than 300+ families and neighbors.




"The financial challenges stem from an intense passion to serve as many families as possible.




"Our goal is to reopen on a solid financial footing, with new leadership and good management practices in place."




"At this point, the Center has no forensic-financial evidence to support those claims. And in that, we are asking everyone to be cautious of rumors and accusations against prior staff."

FOX59/CBS4 News learned in May that the center's board determined that its endowment was in "significant decline," cash was running short and its financial advisor quit without warning.




"With this also being the community center, I did notice this year there was a lot less activities, summer wise for the kids. I noticed they haven't been having as many fundraisers and things like that like they typically do, or community events like I noticed last year versus this year," said Jessica Jackson, a single mother of two young children now faced with finding new pre-school and after-school arrangements for her children. "Now, seeing that you guys are really deep in the hole, it makes sense now."




The Glick Center's most recent IRS Form 990 filed for 2023 listed revenues of $4,215,770 versus expenses of $5,708,188.




Maria Allen spent almost a year helping Glick clients find rental and parenting assistance.




"We donated funds for my program, my parent engagement, and right before I resigned...I ended up finding out that my funds that I donated were no longer there for the program," she said, her personal $7,000 donation unaccounted for. "Why didn't we have funding? Why couldn't we get help to our people in families services program in our department for rent or utilities? Where's it all at? How can we be told that there is no funds when we know that this stuff was coming in from community partners that were giving funding for our department?"




Allen said as programs went unfunded and staff positions were left unfilled, employees were discouraged from raising questions about finances and operations.




"I always questioned the ethical things internally but when we asked questions or follow protocol to go to HR to ask, 'Hey, this is going on, we're concerned,' there was never follow through with the situation," she said. "I know for a fact when we asked, we were told, pretty much, 'Stay in your lane.' Its sad to see them shut down."




Allen blames the center's board, which has installed an interim CEO while considering its options to reopen after completion of the internal audit.




"You cannot give organizations large amounts of money and not question when your checks and balances are not adding up," she said, recalling a supervisor's advice. "CYA is always what she told us. CYA cuz that's what's gonna tell the truth."




Any information revealed by the internal audit could give cause for a State Board of Accounts review or investigation by the Marion County Grand Jury.





via: https://fox59.com/indiana-news/glick-neighborhood-center-closure-raises-questions-over-funding-shortfalls/